1. Technical Field
Various embodiments generally relate generally to a three-dimensional semiconductor memory device, a memory system including the same, a method of manufacturing the same and a method of operating the same and, more particularly, to a three-dimensional non-volatile memory device.
2. Related Art
The development of semiconductor memory devices is showing a tendency toward increasing integration density and storing a high capacity of data. In general, a two-dimensional (2D) memory device is arranged on a semiconductor substrate in a row direction. Therefore, a semiconductor substrate having a larger area may be required to store a high capacity of data. However, as the integration density of 2D memory devices increases, interference and disturbance between adjacent devices may increase. As a result, multi-level cell (MLC) operations allowing for easy storage of a high capacity of data may be complicated. To overcome such limitations of these 2D memory devices, three-dimensional (3D) memory devices have been developed.
In a 3D memory device, memory cells may be stacked in a direction perpendicular to a semiconductor substrate. Thus, the 3D memory device may have a high integration density and a large data capacity in comparison with a 2D memory device where memory cells are arranged only in row directions.
These memory cells of the 3-dimensional memory device may include a plurality of conductive layers and a plurality of interlayer insulating layers, which are alternately stacked, and vertical channel layers configured to pass through the plurality of conductive layers and the plurality of interlayer insulating layers. Recently, a diversity of techniques for improving the reliability of 3D memory devices have been proposed.